The Chinese television industry hopes to make it big abroad. (Photo : Reuters)
Chinese TV series are slowly being picked up by international media companies for syndication, reported ChinaCulture.org.
Just last March 15, the Chinese hit "The Legend of Zhenhuan" was made available on the leading American streaming service, Netflix.
However, the show, which consisted of 76 episodes in its original local run, did not receive any accolades abroad. Having been watered down and dubbed in English into a six-episode miniseries, it garnered unfavorable reviews and even lower streaming hits.
This doesn't come as a surprise to many Chinese directors and producers. Historically, TV shows from China do not make it big internationally.
While there is Chinese TV show surplus, only a tiny fraction of this gets exported. Furthermore, there is only demand for historically based story lines and modern-themed shows are usually ignored especially in the East and South Asian television markets.
"Out of more than 15,000 episodes of domestic drama, only 10,000 hours (roughly 200 episodes) were exported through the China Radio, Film and Television Program Exchange Center," said Huang Lan, producer of Chinese drama "Tiger Mom."
However, things are looking brighter for the Chinese TV show industry. "Tiger Mom," starring A-listers Zhao Wei and Tong Dawei, and recently concluded love story "My Sunshine," are poised to make it big abroad.
"Tiger Mom" is scheduled to be shown in nine countries, including the United States and Canada, while the rights for "My Sunshine" were bought by MBC, a popular South Korean television station.
Forecasters believe that these show would rate well because the themes are generally more relatable.
